Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

Whale-watching

Feb 27, 2015

Whale watching does not often involve violence, but this week off Maui, Kate Cummings witnessed and photographed a bonafide clash of titans.

Specifically, several male humpback whales, weighing 30 to 40 tons apiece, fighting to establish dominance in the presence of a female.

This is the end of breeding season in Hawaiian waters, and brawls such as this occur, but rarely are they photographed in such vivid detail (note the blood materializing on the whale’s tubercles).

Cummings, a naturalist who runs Blue Ocean Whale Watch in Monterey, California, provided the sequence for this story.

She has witnessed all sorts of humpback whale activity during the feeding season off Monterey, but the fighting, she said, is far more typical in Hawaii.

“A few years ago I was out on a research boat in Monterey Bay and saw something that looked like competitive behavior–humpbacks chasing each other, doing head lunges etc.,” Cummings said. “I was informed it was most likely competitive group of male humpbacks pursuing a female. I was surprised to hear this since this type of behavior is mostly observed in their breeding grounds.

“But now after seeing what I saw [Wednesday] off Maui, I'm totally convinced it was a competitive group I observed years ago. The males were acting the same way–lots of head lunges (or head rises–whatever you want to call it), surfacing rapidly and rolling to the side in the direction of another whale.

“It was only this time though, that I got to see the bloody tubercles, which made it obvious these guys were competing aggressively.”

The whales now in Hawaiian waters spend the summer feeding off Alaska. The whales that visit Monterey each spring and summer to feed are nearing the end of their breeding season off Mexico.

Cummings was with Ultimate Whale Watch out of Lahaina. The engines were turned off so the only sounds were those of the battling humpbacks.

"They were far off at first, then surfaced next to us only about 50 feet away," Cummings said. "They were so involved in their brawl, yet totally aware of the boat and were able to dive down right next to us within just a few feet without touching the boat."

The images show one whale trying to push another downward.

Imagine the force of 40 tons of fury, then, and the strength required to resist such force.

Here’s hoping the best male humpback whale prevailed, and that the female was satisfied with the result.

Feb 18, 2015

The probable sighting of North Pacific right whales off California's San Miguel Island during the past several days had researchers scrambling Wednesday to board a boat or plane and try to spot and photograph the endangered mammals.

The estimated population for the Northeast Pacific sub-population of these whales is only about 50 individuals, so sightings are exceedingly rare. (The western sub-population off Japan numbers in the low hundreds.)

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the North Pacific right whale is the most endangered whale species on earth.Sightings at San Miguel Island, within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, occurred on multiple days between February 2 and 14, by a shore-based NOAA researcher studying pinnipeds.

He did not have access to a boat and the whales–initially one whale, then two later in the period–were spotted two miles offshore and appeared to leave little doubt as to their identity.

They were robust and broad, mostly black, with no dorsal fins, and with very large, black tail flukes. (North Pacific right whales typically measure 50 to 60 feet.)

The researcher, perhaps because he was so far away and did not have photographic equipment to document the sightings, did not share his observations until leaving the island on Monday.

The Northeast Pacific sub-population typically summers in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

Since 1925, there have been only 13 confirmed sightings off California.

In the pre-whaling era there were believed to be about 20,000 North Pacific right whales.

Boaters who spot what might be North Pacific right whales are asked to try to photograph them, particularly the heads and flukes, for ID purposes, and contact NOAA Fisheries.

Feb 04, 2015

Scuba divers on a recent excursion to Mexico’s Socorro Island were part of a scene that was so magical and idyllic that it will remain in their minds forever: a mother humpback whale and her newborn calf, along with a male escort, playfully going about their day seemingly without a care.

But the same divers, a day later, would learn how quickly and dramatically nature can turn things around; how a scene that was so wonderful one day could be so heart-wrenching the next.

Those magical moments were to be some of the last in the very short life of the baby whale, thanks to the arrival of two hungry and aggressive male killer whales.

“A bit of sadness hung with everyone for the rest of the day,” Steve Hinczynski, a passenger aboard the Solmar V, wrote on Facebook. “We all know that is how things work in the ocean (and nature in general). There are hunters and there are prey, and each needs the other to survive. While we only had a short time with the calf, it felt like we lost a close friend that morning.”

The calf, Hinczynski added, had brought joy to the divers by learning, before their eyes, to surface for a breath on its own, then return to its place beside mom.

Hinczynski’s stunning photos, which he allowed to be used with this story, illustrate the beauty of a dive with a humpback whale family in gin-clear water. The killer whale image was captured by Lisa Sorensen, with a GoPro camera on a pole. The video shows the brief killer whale attack from above the surface. This could be the first documentation of a killer whale attack on humpback whales in Mexican waters.

The killer whales, believed to be Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, arrived just after a morning dive at nearby Roca Partida.

The humpback whales were still in the area. Half the divers were back aboard the mother ship, the Solmar V, and others had been picked up via inflatable boat, and another group was about to enter the water, using snorkeling gear, when the shout came: “Killer whales!”

We’ll spare the gory details of a quick battle and its aftermath, other than to say that both adult humpback whales fought ferociously–with the male escort at one point launching his body onto one of the killer whales–before the orcas had masterfully separated the calf and claimed their prize.

“Then the sadness hit us when we saw mama come up to breathe and exhale a couple of times,” reads a passage on the Solmar V Liveaboard blog. “The sound we made was just sad. We were all shocked.”Later that day, aboard the Solmar V, various emotions were on display.

“Some divers were crying for the baby and mama humpback, others were sad but felt privileged to have witnessed the whole show,” states Antonio Romero, the blog author and dive instructor. “Definitely it was sad to watch a baby taken away from its mama, but it is nature and the cycle of life. We can be lucky to be witness to its power."

It’s worth noting that killer whale attacks on whales, while they are rarely observed, are not uncommon. Many of the humpback whales that visit California boast teeth rake marks caused by killer whale attacks in Mexico, implying that for every young whale that's killed, many more survive long enough to outgrow the threat.

The extraordinary sighting was made by passengers and crew aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch vessel. The accompanying photos were provided by naturalist Melissa Galieti, who said the young dolphin was swimming with its mother and two other cow-calf pairs.

The crew was not able to determine whether the dolphin was a true albino, with pink eyes, or a partial albino (leucistic, with blue eyes), because “this little one kept coming to the surface with its eyes closed,” Galieti stated on the company Facebook page.

Its body outline in some of the photos, however, is tinged pink.

Galieti added via email: “It also exhibited some play behaviors, like pec-fin slapping and rolling. All the guests were excited to see something so stunning.”

It’s the same white dolphin that was spotted in Monterey Bay on August 28, so it seems to be familiar with the area, and passengers undoubtedly are being told to be on the lookout for a white dolphin.

Jan 22, 2015

The event was videotaped from above and below the surface, via pole cam, and finally some of the underwater footage has become available, courtesy of Ultimate Whale Watch.

Its 25-foot inflatable boat was bumped, presumably inadvertently, by the mother whale as the vessel was drifting with its engine turned off. The calf swam toward the bow of the boat before the incident. Also, a male "escort" whale was nearby, perhaps agitating and confusing the mom.

The boat was said to be at a safe distance when the whale suddenly turned around and swam toward the boat. Passengers were told to get their cameras ready and apparently they captured some vivid footage.

In the accompanying video clip, via a passenger named Collette, the mother whale’s eye is visible just before she bumps the boat.

Shortly afterward, the mother and calf can be seen swimming away. The whale seemed to be OK after this unusual incident.

Ultimate Whale Watch has been criticized by some for turning off its engines, making it difficult for whales to know the boat is nearby, and for allowing passengers to lean over and peer into the water with masks.

Lee James, the company's owner, said Thursday via email:

"We are getting whales hanging around within a few feet and sometimes rubbing the boat almost daily. I could not find any research or study showing that they are getting more comfortable with vessels, [but] it has been an observation that over the past two migrations that they have become less apprehensive and more interactive with our vessels."

Jan 12, 2015

Whale watchers aboard a small boat off Maui watched with widening eyes recently as a humpback whale suddenly turned toward them, began to slap her large pectoral fin on the surface, and struck their inflatable boat with its head.

The collision with the 25-foot vessel was more of a shove than a strike, but blunt enough enough to “toss our boat a good five feet when she hit,” said Jennifer Nap, who videotaped the unusual incident while on the trip with her husband, Ryan.

About 10,000 endangered humpback whales are in Hawaiian waters for the winter breeding and nursing season.

The moment before impact; video screen grab

The Naps and their group were with Ultimate Whale Watch and had been following a mother and calf “from a safe distance,” Nap said, when the mother whale suddenly turned.

The crew shut the engines down as the whale “came straight for us, I think to warn us to move,” Nap said.

The calf had veered away from its mom, toward the vessel’s bow. The mom, still on her side and slapping her pectoral fin, glided into the boat as the passengers reacted with trepidation and joy.

“As soon as she was done pushing us aside she dove under, then popped right back up on the other side with her calf,” Nap said.

It remains unclear whether the bump was intentional. Flipper slapping is not typically used as a warning; a whale is more likely to violently slap its fluke, or tail fin, to signal its displeasure.

Plus, as researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger points out, humpback whales almost always trumpet blow to issue warnings, and no such sounds can be heard in the footage.

Lee James, CEO for Ultimate Whale Watch, said the female humpback was also distracted by a male escort who was nearby.

“It is most likely that this mom was distracted with her calf and keeping another eye on a escort that was being a little irritating for the female, as escorts can be,” James said. “We think she simply wasn't paying attention and bumped the boat, then carried on pec slapping like nothing happened.”

Researchers have stated on Facebook that this probably would not have occurred if the engines had been idling, because the noise would have let the whale know the boat was there.

In any event, the whale seemed to be OK and the passengers returned to port with lasting memories.

Jan 09, 2015

When Eric Martin, his son Cody, and David Lantos set out from the Southern California port of Redondo Beach in a 10-foot inflatable boat on Tuesday, they never imagined that they’d soon be surrounded by killer whales.

Or that the killer whales would develop a deep interest in their presence, and spend more than an hour mugging a boat so small that the Martins refer to it as “the bathtub.” (Mugging is when the mammals repeatedly swim up to a vessel.)

It was as close of an encounter with orcas as can be experienced in the wild without physical contact, an experience Cody, 18, described as “possibly the best moment of my life.”

This interaction occurred off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, involving four transient orcas cataloged as the CA51s, in such calm, clear water, that the trio was able to capture incredible footage from above and below the surface.

“It was an experience I’ll never forget,” said Eric Martin, co-director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium in Manhattan Beach. "And to be honest, I didn’t realize how small we looked” until he saw an image captured by researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger (image is atop this post).

Schulman-Janiger, who runs the California Killer Whale Project, was aboard the Triumphant, a whale-watching boat out of Long Beach. She said this “magical footage” was the best she had ever seen of killer whales off California.The underwater footage is serene, showing several close approaches and revealing vocalizations as the orcas communicate with each other. The topside footage provides a human element and reveals the type of chaos associated with being mugged by orcas in a dinghy. It also includes strange "raspberry" sounds made by the orcas at the surface.

The CA51s are more commonly seen off Monterey, in Central California, but have visited Southern California for four consecutive years in January. The three previous sightings were on New Year’s Day.

This family group included CA51, or Star, the mother; CA51C, or Bumper (male); CA51B, or Orion (male), and CA51D, or Comet, a female, and at 4 years old the youngest of the group.

Like all transient orcas, the CA51s feed on other marine mammals, and during their Southern California visits they typically feed on California sea lions.

This group is famously boat friendly, which made for a precarious situation when Martin first saw them as he approached the Palos Verdes Peninsula in his dinghy, after the initial sighting by shore-based volunteer spotters working for the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project.

The orcas decided to investigate them as soon as they saw the "bathtub" in the distance. Eric Martin killed the motor, wisely, and braced for their greeting. “We all thought they were just going to swim under the boat,” Martin said. “Little did I realize that the mother and Comet would decide to stop, face to face, just inches from David, who was holding the GoPro camera, and stare right at us.”

The orcas swam away briefly, and harassed some sea birds, before returning for more human interaction.

Jan 06, 2015

Gray whales are being spotted in record numbers off Southern California, thanks to clear skies, a mostly calm ocean, lots of eyeballs on the water, and what appears to be an earlier migration period than normal.

What also stands out, besides the numerous blows wafting skyward from thousands of whales that are headed from Arctic feeding grounds to Mexican nursing grounds, are the babies!

It provides a bird’s-eye view of a newborn gray whale clinging to mom’s side, learning how to time its surface breathing, and beginning its first of what could be many migratory journeys along the West Coast.

Gray whale with calf; photo by Slater Moore Photography

“Quite a pair,” Anderson says, fondly.

The extraordinary footage also shows a different mother and calf on their northbound journey, for the sake of comparison, revealing how much larger the babies are after they’ve spent three months nursing in Baja California’s lagoons.

That’s a record for a project that has been in place for 31 years, serving to document numbers and trends having to do with the migration.

Gray whale blows a rainbow; photo by Slater Moore Photography

The 504 southbound gray whales, though it represents only a portion of gray whales actually passing by, is higher than the entire season count for 11 of those 31 seasons. (The end of the migration period off Southern California is late May.)Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who runs the ASC-LA project, said the high number of whales points to an earlier start to the gray whale migration–a trend that has been evident for the past four years.

“Because they’re leaving earlier, we’re bound to have more by the same date so early in the season,” the researcher said, adding that this season’s December southbound count of 393 beat the previous season’s record southbound count of 364.

Gray whale with calf in the Santa Barbara Channel; photo by Robert Perry/Condor Express

Other factors are the weather: Fog, wind, and rain make detecting whales much more difficult. Also, it could be that, for whatever reason, more whales are migrating closer to shore, making them more visible to spotters and whale watchers.

Neither Schulman-Janiger nor Wayne Perryman, a NOAA scientist who studies the gray whale migration, could say precisely why the whales are leaving Arctic waters early, but clearly it has to do with ice cover and feeding conditions.

“Certainly it is linked to conditions in the Arctic, but I don't think anyone really knows what factors trigger migratory timing,” Perryman said.

Whatever the explanation, the early migration and near-perfect weather are helping commercial whale-watching operations log banner starts to their seasons.

For example, Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safaris logged counts of 13 gray whales on Saturday, five on Sunday, and six on Monday.

Dana Wharf Whale Watching, which also runs from Dana Point, logged 177 gray whale sightings through Monday, compared to 97 for the same period last season.

As for the babies, the ACS-LA project tallied 12 cow-calf pairs through Monday. That’s second only to 19 cow-calf pairs counted through January 5 in 1997-98, an El Nino winter.

Many more are being spotted by whale-watching operations and private boaters, helping to dispel a widespread notion that gray whales deliver most of their babies in Baja’s lagoons.

In fact, as many as 50% of gray whale births occur before the mothers reach the lagoons.

But because winter generally provides lots of poor weather, keeping spotters at bay, most of them go undetected. But this year, it seems, that all the dynamics of the southbound migration are on clear display, and so far nobody is complaining.

Jan 05, 2015

Mysterious and rarely observed killer whales described simply as “Type D” were documented recently in the southern Indian Ocean by a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society crew that had been pursuing what it claimed to be poachers.

The orca encounter–which lasted about an hour and included wake surfing, bow riding and tail slapping–occurred on December 26 in rough seas in the harsh and remote region between the Crozet and Kergulen archipelagos (see video).

In this area the mammals, which are characterized by their large bulbous foreheads, are known to eat toothfish–a type of cod marketed as Chilean seabass–after they’ve become hooked on longline gear.

The Sea Shepherd crew, aboard the Bob Barker, claimed to have been pursuing a vessel fishing illegally for toothfish when 13 Type D orcas appeared alongside the boat and were videotaped.

Robert L. Pitman, of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in the United States, confirmed the sighting and is quoted in a Sea Shepherd press release as saying that before this encounter, “I don’t think they have ever been filmed alive.”

The Type D group, first documented in Crozet waters in 2003, is the rarest and most mysterious. Little is known about these mammals’ feeding habits, beyond depredation on hooked toothfish.

However, their appearance is distinct. Besides their large, bulbous foreheads, they boast tiny eye patches compared to those of most killer whale types; their dorsal fins are shorter and narrower, and their teeth are smaller.ye patches

Most sightings, understandably, have been logged by longline fishermen. Erwin Vermeulen, chief engineer aboard the Bob Barker, said of the December 26 encounter: “The crew watched in awe as the 13 killer whales, including a small juvenile and a large male, used a 6-meter swell to surf across the bow. For almost an hour the surf show continued and was accompanied by bow riding, tail=slaps and breaches.”

Sea Shepherd is a controversial group most famous for its annual harassment of Japanese whalers in the Antarctic. Sea Shepherd’s campaign against illegal fishing for toothfish is called Operation Icefish.